This invention relates to an enduro jug canteen that is removably mounted astride a bracket which is clamped to the crossbrace of the handlebars of a motorcycle and is secured thereto with a strap.
The "enduro" is a dirt bike race covering about 20 to 500 miles over trails, rocks, sand or other terrain, usually in uninhabited areas. The sport is analogous in many respects to the rallye for sports cars.
Dirt bikes as a group generally have crossbraced handlebars as standard equipment. As compared with other types of motorcycles these vehicles are geared for slower speeds, steeper climbs, with fork suspensions built for rougher terrain, tighter turns and higher maneuverability. To avoid excess weight they are built lighter. Street bikes generally are designed for the paved road and are loaded with accessories of all kinds. The heaviest, fastest and most powerful motorcycles fall into this group. Crossbraced handlebars, generally, are not a stock item for this group.
The term "enduro bikes" is misleading, since this refers to a hybrid group falling somewhere between dirt bikes and street bikes. Some enduro bikes have crossbraced handlebars as stock equipment while others do not.
For the purposes of this invention the term "motorcycle" as used herein is intended to include all motorcycles that are equipped with a crossbrace on the handlebars to the exclusion of all others not so equipped.
A canteen adapted for clip-mounting over a bar-like member, specifically over the crash bar of a motorcycle, is taught by Cecil M. Kiser in U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,140, dated Nov. 18, 1975. The front face of the bottle is indented into a deep channel below the neck along a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body. A finger is provided that depends from the upper edge of the channel. The clearance between the main body of the bottle and the depending finger is dimensioned to snugly grasp the crash bar. The center of gravity is well below the level of the grasping channel so that the bottle hangs almost erect with neck uppermost, yet it is free to swing like a pendulum from the crash bar. For the purposes of enduro racing, this type of mounting on the crash bar interferes with the freedom of knee movement of the contestant. Over rough terrain, the bottle can readily be knocked loose and be lost or, in the case of a spill, it becomes a separated flying object potentially injurious to the contestant or his rivals.
A tear-drop canteen with a spigot in its side near the bottom of the tank is provided for withdrawal of water according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,429 of Jack A. Purcell, Jr., et al dated June 26, 1973. This canteen is designed for permanent mounting on the fore-and-aft member of the bicycle frame that links the seat to the fork. The shape simulates the gasoline tank of a motorcycle, but its high location on top of the bar is hazardous to the contestant on rough terrain, especially in the event of a spill, and it interferes with the freedom of movement of the handlebar in tight turns.
In U.S. Design Pat. No. 239,697 dated Apr. 27, 1976, Kenneth W. Hunt teaches a bottle that is longitudinally curled into a horseshoe cross-section that provides a deep internal channel with walls concentric with the circularly cylindrical exterior wall. The side walls of the channel are re-entrant as seen in cross-section, that is, omega-shaped. The axis of the neck of the bottle is parallel to and aligned with the longitudinal axis of symmetry which is, in turn, parallel to but radially displaced from the axis of the cylindrical wall. There is no teaching of the use or utility of this design. If the bottle were properly dimensioned to be removably snapped over and around the crossbrace of the motorcycle handlebars, combining sufficient flexibility so as to allow forced spreading apart of the ends of the horseshoe cross-section balanced against sufficient rigidity to snugly engage the crossbrace, the bottle potentially could rotate around on the crossbrace under vibration until the open side of the horseshoe channel faced up and then drop off with the jolt of the first hard bump.
The most obvious way is to carry the canteen secured to the belt of the contestant. Because of the high frequency of occurrence of spills during an enduro run, this presents a serious risk of damage to internal organs, such as liver and kidneys and, in addition, hampers the contestant's body twist movements as necessary to clear brush and overhanging rock in tight places.
The above disadvantages of the prior art are overcome, according to the invention, by mounting a canteen astride the crossbrace of the motorcycle handlebars with its longitudinal axis horizontal, utilizing a mounting bracket clamped to the crossbrace and a strap to secure the canteen to the bracket. The body of the canteen is inwardly indented over its entire length to a depth and rounded curvature sufficient to create a channel with outwardly flared sidewalls in which the crossbrace can be totally submerged, including cavity means shaped and dimensioned to receive and to snugly and/or wedgingly engage at least three supporting plane faces of the bracket.
A screw cap closure is secured to the neck of the bottle. The axis of the neck of the bottle is tilted upward 10.degree. in the vertical plane of the longitudinal axis of the body of the canteen. This vertical displacement permits the screw cap closure to clear the top of the crossbrace with sufficient margin so as to prevent actual contact under severe vibration that could possibly loosen the cap and spill the contents of the canteen. All edges and corners are well rounded to minimize injuries that could be caused by snagging, impalement or cutting of the flesh in forced contact with sharp corners and edges in the event that the contestant falls on the canteen, or is struck by it as a flying object during a spill.
Because of the heat encountered in the sun on desert terrain and the internal pressures that may result, the front, rear, left and right walls of the canteen are bulged outward to improve the structural strength. Taken from the aspect of the contestant when seated behind the canteen mounted on the crossbrace, the "rear" wall of the canteen faces the contestant while the "front" wall faces forwardly away from him, hence the terms "front" and "rear" are the reverse of the draftman's conventional "front view" and "rear view" designations. To avoid this ambiguity, the terms "front" and "rear", for the purposes of this disclosure, including the description of the figures, shall correspond with the front and rear ends, respectively, of the motorcycle.
The bottom wall, with its deep longitudinal channel has a rounded W cross-section, hence a ribbed corrugation. The rigidity of the bottom and its resistance to up-thrust collapse are thereby vastly improved.
One of the objects of the invention is to mount a canteen on a motorcycle without impairing the extent or freedom of movement of the body of the enduro contestant.
Another object of the invention is to mount a canteen on a motorcycle without impairing the low profile of same.
Still another object of the invention is to mount a canteen without appreciably impairing the contestant's range of visibility of the terrain immediately ahead.
A fourth object of the invention is to minimize contestant's risk of snagged clothing, body cuts and bruises that could result from headlong spills over the handlebars or side spills where the fallen contestant is at risk of being struck by his own motorcycle as a flying object.
A fifth object of the invention is to provide convenient means for removably securing a canteen to a motorcycle crossbrace.
A sixth object of the invention is to provide snug fitting bracket means for wedgingly securing a canteen to a motorcycle crossbrace whereby chafing and wear of the abraded contact points of the container to its ultimate perforation or cracking and loss of contents can be eliminated.